Liana #2
I made it back to my seat as he laid out the whole spread. Chicken scampi, Caesar salad from scratch, and garlic bread. Lemon spears and extra cheese in little bowls on the side. I was genuinely impressed, and I let him see it.
I looked behind me at Esme snoring on the rug while the evening light settled across the room.
I wanted to enjoy this moment without overthinking it.
The problem was, good things always made me nervous now.
Jaheim grabbed my hand, praying over our food, shocking me yet again.
“Amen,” we said together before a nervous laugh filled the room.
He poured me some more and we dug in. The moan that left me was involuntary and Jaheim leaned back and smiled.
“That’s how you feel?”
“You know this is good. The lemon, the garlic, all of it. You did that.”
“Take the rest with you.”
“Damn, you kicking me out?”
“Of course not. You and Esme are welcome to stay tonight and any subsequent nights.”
I set my fork down and took a breath.
“Jaheim. I’ve been meaning to ask you something, but I don’t want you to be offended.”
“Don’t worry about offending me. I’ll never lie to you. Ask, and I’ll answer.”
“I received some money. A lot of money.”
He looked up from his plate.
“Okay and?”
“$75,000 has been sitting in my account for two weeks, and every time I try to figure out where it came from, I end up looking at you.” He held my eyes and said nothing. “Did you do that?”
“Will you be mad if it was me? Allegedly.”
I chewed on that. A former probation officer with a clean record should’ve been horrified by seventy-five thousand mysterious dollars sitting in her account.
Instead, I felt protected. Not pitied. Not managed. Defended.
Outside of my daddy, nobody had stood up for me like that since Odeal Jordan dismantled my confidence piece by piece.
“I’d feel honored but a little nervous. Not mad,” I said.
He nodded slowly and set his fork down, his eyes finding mine across the island.
“It was yours to begin with. He hid it during the marriage and didn’t disclose it.
I put it back where it belonged. A lot of men go off and do bullshit because when you leave, you are so furious, so blindly full of rage, you just want to go.
That’s how plenty of women leave thousands behind while her and the kids have to start over. I don’t play that.”
“Jaheim.”
“You asked me not to lie to you, so I’m not. I wouldn’t do anything that puts you in danger. It’s not tracing back to you. It was fuck Odeal, and a thank you for your time.”
I picked up my wine and took a long sip. I thought about Odeal’s voice cracking on my daddy’s house phone.
“He wanted to cry like a little bitch,” I said, laughing and covering my mouth.
“I know,” Jaheim said calmly. “The quickest way to break a man is to take his money or his woman.”
He picked his fork back up like we weren’t discussing felonies over dinner.
“Odeal been comfortable too long.”
I thought about that night behind the bar.
The music playing low through Steelo’s speakers.
The Pac-Man emblem glowing faintly on Jaheim’s neck and the feeling that I’d seen it somewhere before.
I reached over and moved his head gently, getting a good look at his neck.
He turned, our faces close enough that the garlic sat between us. Neither one of us cared even a little.
“I’m very observant. I knew that emblem looked familiar.” I leaned in closer to get a better look at his neck in the low light. “Do I say thank you?”
“You can say whatever you want. But a thank you would be nice.”
His lips brushed mine softly. I closed my eyes. My heart was about to beat out of my chest. Every nerve ending in my body lit up.
“So you walked into my bar, met me, ran my background, found my ex-husband’s hidden account, drained it, and deposited it into mine?”
“Yeah. That about covers it, baby.”
“Thank you,” I said, kissing him like I meant it. “It’s the sweetest thing anyone’s ever done for me.”
“Stay with me tonight,” he murmured, massaging my neck.
I wanted so bad to say no. We needed to stop blowing past my policy, but I’d had a good day, and the night could only get better with him in it.
“I’ll stay. But I need to brush my teeth first and freshen up.”
Jaheim led me down the long hallway to his room. Massive. The bathroom alone looked big enough to fit six people comfortably.
He handed me one of those disposable toothbrushes, and we kept stealing glances at each other through the mirror while we brushed our teeth side by side like this wasn’t our first time sharing a bathroom.
The shower somehow made things worse.
We stayed close without touching, both of us trying to hold onto the anticipation a little longer even while steam wrapped around us.
Afterward, Jaheim dried me off slowly before rubbing lotion and oil into my skin with his strong hands.
By the time he carried me to the bed, every brush of his hands against my skin pulled another shaky breath out of me. He kissed me softly at first. Little pecks against my lips that kept turning into more.
Then his hands found me again.
My fingers traced the muscles in his back while he squeezed my ass slowly, enjoying it too much to even pretend otherwise.
His mouth traveled down my chest, stopping at each nipple to lick and suck gently until that gentleness disappeared little by little.
That shift was going to ruin me.
“Jahh,” I moaned as he kissed right above my panty line before biting softly.
“I’ve been praying you’d let me back in this pussy, Trini.”
His fingers slid between my thighs while his mouth worked slowly against my inner leg, teasing me until my hips lifted on their own searching for more.
When his tongue finally found me, my whole body jolted.
Pleasure hit fast, hot enough to make my legs shake, but he pulled back before I could fall apart completely and kissed me so deeply I already knew my lips would be swollen tomorrow.
He pushed into me carefully, taking his time.
“You so motherfuckin wet, damn,” he groaned, easing out before snapping his hips forward hard enough to pull a gasp from me.
Me being wet wasn’t a lie. Not after everything he admitted tonight. Not after finally feeling defended for the first time in years. He could have it however he wanted tonight.
“Baby,” he breathed against my mouth, “glaze my shit up.”
He went deeper after that.
The sound that left me had no business coming from the body of a woman with a policy.
“Jah, baby?—”
He went deeper.
“Right there, baby.”
“Yeah, I fit perfectly in this pussy.”
My mind flashed to a future where this waited for me at the end of every night. I wish I had good news for myself, but I didn’t.
Until I released the desire coiling in my belly, I would tell this man yes to anything. I would give him babies. Marry him. Cook scampi every Sunday. Add him as Esme’s emergency contact without a second thought.
“Fuck,” I hissed as he bit my neck.
His young ass had me completely on the ropes. I had officially run out of fight.
I grabbed the back of his head with both hands because I suddenly needed him as close to me as possible. My thighs trembled against his waist while he slowed the rhythm enough to make my orgasm build. His dick moved with entirely too much confidence, like it already secured a summer pass.
Wet sounds filled the bedroom while my moans tangled with the low hums leaving his chest.
Every bit of it had me arching off the mattress, chasing more.
“Cum with me, baby. You ready to do that for me?”
“Hell yes. Yes, baby.”
Jaheim locked in and coaxed a release out of us both that left me spent, useless, and questioning every boundary I walked in there with.
One orgasm and a little aftercare later, I realized I was in serious trouble.